Why devs needn't fear CSS with the King of CSS himself Kevin Powell [Podcast #154]
717On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews Kevin Powell. He's a designer, a software engineer, and an expert in CSS. He's runs a CSS-focused YouTube channel with nearly a million subscribers. There's nothing sensational there – he literally just teaches people CSS.
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CORRECTION: I (Quincy) say during the interview that the Uber found a way to access microphones on iOS without users' knowledge. There have been documented cases of malware doing this (like Pegasus) but Uber didn't do this. They did do a lot of other shady things, like continue collecting data even after you deleted their app – but mic spying was not one of them. Yes, early Uber was an ethical tire fire. But it's important to get facts right here.
We talk about:
Why you should still learn CSS in 2025
How teaching concepts improves your own understanding of them
How learning to skateboard helped Kevin escape Tutorial Hell
Massive improvements coming to CSS
Links we talk about during our conversation:
Kevin's YouTube channel:
Original Space Jam website Kevin mentions: https://www.spacejam.com/1996/
The article that coined the term Responsive Design: https://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-design/
Kevin's freeCodeCamp article on how learning skateboarding helped him out of tutorial hell: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-learning-to-skateboard-helped-me-find-a-way-out-of-tutorial-hell/
Kevin's freeCodeCamp course on building and deploying a portfolio page: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-build-a-portfolio-website-and-deploy-to-digital-ocean/
Playable Minesweeper in CSS that Quincy mentions: https://codepen.io/bali_balo/pen/BLJONZ
Acknowledged mistakes that are permanently coded into CSS: https://wiki.csswg.org/ideas/mistakes
Talk on why is CSS so weird: • Why Is CSS So Weird?
Chapters
0:00:00 Teaser
0:01:03 Musical Intro – Bubble Bobble
0:02:04 Interview Starts
0:04:57 Accessibility in Web Design
0:08:14 Understanding Technical Debt
0:11:01 The Designer-Developer Dynamic
0:14:01 Evolution of CSS: From Tables to Flexbox and Grid
0:20:03 Responsive Design: Adapting to Multiple Devices
0:24:10 The Impact of Mobile Apps on Web Development
0:27:53 Kevin Powell's Journey in CSS
0:32:26 From Hobby to Career: The Journey Begins
0:34:50 Teaching and Transitioning to YouTube
0:41:59 The Growth of a YouTube Channel
0:54:34 Taking the Leap: Leaving Teaching for Content Creation
1:00:11 Learning Through Skateboarding: Overcoming Tutorial Hell
1:03:42 Building Balance in Learning
1:08:47 The Journey of Learning New Skills
1:14:40 Navigating Cognitive Overload
1:20:29 The Complexity of CSS
1:29:59 Teaching Insights from Classroom Experience
1:33:26 The Importance of Design Systems in UI Development
1:36:09 Why Learn CSS and Front-End Design Concepts?
1:40:55 The Evolution and Governance of CSS
1:47:53 Translating Graphic Design Skills to Web Development
1:52:19 The Relevance of CSS in Mobile App Development
1:55:41 The Value of Learning in Public
1:59:06 Navigating Influence and Responsibility in Teaching
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Other Statistics
Counter-Strike: Source Statistics For freeCodeCamp.org
Currently, freeCodeCamp.org has 1,991,301 views for Counter-Strike: Source across 11 videos. This game accounts for over 1 day of watchable video on his channel, making up less than 0.58% of the total overall content for Counter-Strike: Source on freeCodeCamp.org's YouTube channel.